Freight Broker Sales Training Tips You Don’t Want to Miss

In this blog we’re going to tackle the number one issue freight brokers run into with prospecting, and that is finding the time to actually make enough calls to close new customers. These tips will add the efficiency you need so you can make more calls.

Batching Activities

If you’ve never heard the term batching, it refers to the process of grouping similar tasks together.  Think of a batch of cookies.  It would take exponentially more time to mix the batter and bake each cookie one at a time.  Sounds a little absurd, right?  Well, that’s exactly what we see with freight brokers.  They search around the web looking for the perfect lead, spend anywhere from a minute or two, up to 15-20 minutes trying to determine if they’re going to even call that lead.  Then, once they’ve worked up enough courage, they’ll pick up that 300 pound phone and make that one dial.  Chances are, they’ll either get a voicemail, or be screened by a gatekeeper in their first attempt. 

So just like baking one cookie at a time, they’ll expend all of this effort and time, just to make a single dial.  Then, if you haven’t been interrupted with an urgent customer email, which let’s be honest, is usually what happens.  We start the cycle all over again. 

Lead Generation

What we suggest is that you batch your lead generation time and your dial time separately.  For instance, instead of searching for each lead before you dial, you will spend an allotted amount of time each day searching and compiling leads into your CRM or a lead list.

This achieves multiple things.  It allows you to focus on one skill at a time, which allows you to become better at it faster.  The second thing it accomplishes is that it takes the stress of dialing the phone out of lead generation.  Now you won’t be using lead generation as a form of call avoidance, and let’s be honest, we’ve all been there.  We’ve all spent a little extra time reading a company website to avoid picking up the phone. Now you have a task that has a simple specific goal.  Find a predetermined number of prospects in a specific amount of time. 

Making Calls

The other activity you’ll have batched is your actual dialing.   Now that we have this as a stand alone activity, we can evaluate how we’re doing and where we can improve.   The number one area that will get you more customers is simple: Make More Calls!  Sales is a numbers game above all else.  Think of it like baseball.  You need lots of at-bats to hit home runs. 

So, now that you’re not slowing yourself down with other tasks, your call volume will go up.  If you want to continually improve, pick a number each day as a target.  Without it, you can’t tell if you accomplished what you’d set out to achieve, let alone achieve it.  The trick here is to pick a number that’s challenging, but not so out of reach that you’ll be constantly let down if you don’t hit it.  Then, increase it by 5-10% each day or week.   This will allow you to build up your confidence faster, and you’ll work gradually up to your dialing potential without the burnout and emotional ups and downs. 

None of these are a magic bullet to hit any target you want.  They are the recipe to consistently grow your business week over week, quarter over quarter and year over year.   Everyone wants the easiest, most effective way to close more business.  Few are willing to put the time, energy and effort that it takes to get there.  If you’re looking for additional accountability or sales coaching please check out the link below for more on our group coaching program.

Group Coaching